Scheduled ferry sailings that were to resume today have since been cancelled again by both operators of the Dublin-Holyhead route following last weekend’s Storm Darragh damage at the North Wales port, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The Irish Sea route is the core service between Ireland and the UK and such a major disruption continues to affect passengers and freight customers of Irish Ferries and Stena Line, as sailings were set to resume with today’s afternoon sailings.
They are all to originate from Dublin Port as ferries have been based in the capital and also at anchorage in Dublin Bay since the incident, however during last night, these ferries have returned to the port in preparation to resume service.
The damage to ferry infrastructure at the Salt Island ferry terminal is part of the Port of Holyhead, which is owned and operated by Stena Line Ports Ltd.
A spokesperson for Holyhead Port said “Last Saturday morning (7th Dec) during Storm Darragh, an incident occurred at Holyhead Port that caused damage to port infrastructure. As a result, Holyhead Port has remained closed to all marine traffic. No injuries were reported, and all relevant authorities were informed of the incident".
"A thorough assessment of the extent of the damage has been ongoing; however, this process has been delayed due to continued poor weather conditions. Therefore, it is now anticipated that Holyhead Port will remain closed until 17:15hrs on Thursday, 12th Dec.”
Afloat has monitored both ferry company websites today, which show the sailing updates situation to be continuously changing. As up to the lunch hour, one of the operators had the first sailing to resume on the Ireland-Wales route with a departure from Dublin set for the early hours of tomorrow. However, given its arrival time at the port would be just 3 and a half hours later, it was cancelled as the port’s revised reopening time is not until the afternoon.
As such both operators intend to resume services later tomorrow (12 Dec) and at time of writing this is the latest ferry scene.
According to the Irish Ferries (website) they are to operate the first sailing since the closure, with James Joyce departing Dublin at 1430. The corresponding sailing from Holyhead is 2015, noting that will be the only sailing to take place tomorrow.
As for those with Stena Line (website), their Stena Estrid is to depart Dublin at 16:30 and is to make a return sailing from Holyhead at 22:15. A fleetmate, Stena Adventurer, is also to depart the capital at 2230 and arrive in the Welsh port also the next day.
With the potential for ongoing disruption at the Port of Holyhead, customers should keep abreast of the latest sailing updates and with only one full week before the busy festive travel period itself takes hold.
Noting both operators have alternative routes via the southern Irish Sea, with Irish Ferries between Rosslare and Pembroke and Stena’s likewise South Wales link connecting Rosslare and Fishguard.
As of this afternoon, a former Rosslare-Cherbourg ferry, Stena Vision arrived in Dublin Bay. This is from where the Stena Adventurer after a brief anchorage call last night off the capital, vacated its berth for Stena Estrid (see yesterday story). The 'Adventurer' has since arrived offshore of Fishguard this afternoon, but will it return to Dublin. Afloat will have more on these developments of Stena's Irish Sea fleet.
With the closure, almost a year ago, of P&O’s Dublin-Liverpool service, its absence on the central Irish Sea corridor is where Stena stepped in on the Liffey-Merseyside link with the launch of a 'freight' only service but from Birkenhead using a single ship compared to P&O's twin ropax's.
Stena competes with CLdN’s service with a trio of the ‘Heysham-max’ class and certain days the Celandine.
